1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for detecting a combination of compounds contributing to sour odor from an air conditioner, a method for reproducing the sour odor and preparing a corresponding sour odor composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Clean air is an essential element to help humans stay in good health and maintain their well-beings. Two important factors that lead to unsatisfactory indoor air quality in an airtight building are: the building itself producing a substantial amount of air pollutants that need to be removed or diluted; and odor generated as a result of human activities.
An air-cooling system lowers indoor temperature and optimizes indoor environment through air conditioning, which changes air temperature, humidity, flow and cleanliness to more favorable conditions. Increasingly, air-cooling systems are being used to improve the standard of living. Although the air-cooling systems have been improved functionally over time, there remain problems to be solved in terms of indoor air quality. In the past, the function of lowering indoor temperature was viewed as one of the most fundamental and important functions of the air-cooling system. However, currently, health-related aspects such as indoor air quality and odor are also regarded as important functions of air-cooling systems. In particular, complaints regarding indoor air quality include offensive odor such as sour odor, foul odor, foot odor, and the like. To solve the odor problem, it may be necessary to analyze the odor-causing substances and understand the fundamental cause of the odor.
Although it is known that metabolites produced by fungi and bacteria are the cause of odor from an air conditioner, it is clearly not known what metabolites are produced and in what amount by the fungi and bacteria. Additionally, since it is unclear specifically what compounds cause the offensive odor, it may be necessary to understand the type of compounds which contribute to the sour odor from the air conditioner.